Falling to Charlie Strong and Louisville in New Orleans on Jan. 2 wasn’t the only loss the University of Florida took in the Sugar Bowl. The Gators also came out on the losing end financially because the school fell well short of selling its required allotment of 17,500 tickets.

It was revealed at the UAA’s annual budget meeting Wednesday that UF lost about $840,000 on the Sugar Bowl, mostly due to unsold tickets.

UF was one of several SEC schools that took a loss on bowl ticket sales this past year, something that the league addressed at its annual spring meetings in Destin last month. Commissioner Mike Slive said the SEC will be pushing for a lower minimum number of tickets that bowls can require league schools to purchase in the future.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, athletic director Jeremy Foley’s proposed $100.7 million budget for the 2013-14 academic year was approved by the UAA’s Board of Directors. The figure is a 3.5 percent increase from last year’s budget.

The UAA’s biggest source of revenue is the football program, which generates 67 percent of revenue and consumes only 16 percent of the operating budget.

About This Blog

Robbie Andreu has been The Sun’s college football beat writer since 1993. He covered every game of the Steve Spurrier coaching era. The only game he’s missed since he has been in Gainesville is the 2006 Florida State game in Tallahassee. He happily stayed home for that one because of the imminent birth of his second child. Before coming to The Sun in March of 1993, Andreu worked for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel for 10 years, covering a variety of sports, including the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Hurricanes, professional golf and baseball (playoffs and World Series). He also worked in Clearwater and Bradenton. He graduated from UF in 1977.